oh yes, you are absolutely right, the timespan mistake was me missing the さい… it is definately his age 
1 Like
Awesome explanation, thank you
yes overall I think I went over that sentence a little too quckly and messed up
thanks again!
1 Like
p. 24
my translation
ガラス玉の中で、細い線に電気を流すと、光ります。
When electricity flows through a thin wire inside a glass bulb, it glows.
でも、その光を長持ちさせる、細い線の材料を見つけるのが大変でした。
However, it was hard to find the material of the thin wire that would make this light long-lasting.
白金、木綿糸、木のかわ……。
Platinum, cotton thread, tree bark …
いるいるな材料で、何度も何度も実験を繰り返しました。
Many many times, experiments with various materials were repeated.
「だめだ。エジソン先生、これもだめです。」
“No good. Master Edison, this is no good either.”
「いいや、諦めないぞ。絶対に！」
“No, I will not give up. Never!”
百回、千回、一万回……そしてついた。
100 times, 1,000 times, 10,000 times … and then …
一八七九年十月二十一日のことです。
It was October 21, 1879.
4 Likes
It seems to be treated differently by different sources. I first looked at Tae Kim which states in the last paragraph
Though we use the verb 「する」 to say, “to do attempt”, we can use different verbs to do other things with the attempt. For instance, we can use the verb 「決める」 to say, “decide to attempt to do X”. Here are some examples of other actions carried out on the attempt.
勉強をなるべく避けようと思った。 I thought I would attempt to avoid studying as much as possible.
But just now I double-checked with DoJG which states that its meaning is rather “I think I will” (without any attempt-stuff). 
Anyways, I think the meaning is the same roundabout. It’s just that I’ve never seen examples where this grammar point was shortened to ~ようと, so I figured that it doesn’t apply. But maybe that’s a wrong assumption and you are right nonetheless 
Anyways, I really like researching these grammar points that I already took for granted, it’s really refreshing! Thanks for the discussions
4 Likes
p. 25
my translation
木綿糸を炭にしたものを使った電球の光が、四十時間も輝き続けたのです。
The light from a light bulb which used a cotton thread turned into charcoal, continued to shine for forty hours.
「やった！新しい明かりの誕生だ。」
“Yes! This is the birth of a new light.”
Forty hours? More than 100 years!!
Centennial Light - Wikipedia (not the cotton thread variant)
6 Likes
translation p 26
その後、84歳で亡くなるまでに、エジソンは千点ものを発明品の生み出しました。
After that Edison created thousands of inventions until he passed away at the age of 84.
エジソンのけっしてあきらめない努力がくれた明るい光は今も世界中の人々を暖かく照らしています。
The bright light that Edison‘s never ending hard work gave us shines on even today warmly on people all over the world.
トーマス・アルバ・エジソン
Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931)
エジソンの電球と日本の竹
Edison’s lighbulb and Japanese bamboo
エジソンの電球には電気を通すための材料として、初めは木綿の糸を焼いて硬い炭にしたものが使われました。
For Edison’s lightbulb, as a material to lead electricity through it, originally something was used created by burning cotton thread and then turning it into hard charcoal.
その後、もっと長く光らせるために世界中から材料を集め、工夫を重ねました。
After that, to let it shine much longer, he collected materials from all over the world and accumulated devices.
中でも特に優れていたのが、日本の竹でした。
The thing that particularly sticked out among these was Japanese bamboo.
今の京都府八幡市に生えていた竹が使われたと言われています。
It is said that bamboo was used that had grown where today the city of Yawata in the Kyoto prefecture is.
3 Likes
I think the correct way to say this in English is “carbonised/carbonized” - which is defined as “to turn into carbon”. It sounds a bit odd in English to say the thread was “turned into coal/charcoal”, but I think that is the literal translation from Japanese - presumably trying to stick to words a young child would understand.
4 Likes
Yes, I guess you are correct, but I think „carbon“ might be a bit too scientific for this kind of text. 
I just checked the difference between coal and charcoal, coal is the natural thing you dig out and charcoal is man-made. Wow, I’m learning a lot while reading this book! 
1 Like
A little ahead of schedule, but here it is.
p. 26
my translation
その後、八十四歳で亡くなるまでに、エジソンは千点もの発明品を生み出しました。
Thereafter, until he died at the age of 84, Edison produced 1,000 inventions.
エジソンの、決して諦めない努力がくれた明るい光は、今も世界中の人々を暖かく照らしています。
Today, the bright light from Edison’s never-ending efforts is still warmly illuminating people around the world.
トーマス・アルバ・エジソン（一八四七～一九三一年）
Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931)
エジソンの電球と日本の竹
Edison’s light bulb and Japanese bamboo
エジソンの電球には、電気を通すための材料として、はじめは木綿の糸を焼いて、硬い済にしたものが使われました。
In Edison’s light bulb, a hardened carbonized cotton thread was initially used as the material to conduct electricity.
その後、もっと長く光らせるために世界中から材料を集め、工夫を重ねました。
Later on, materials to make it shine longer were gathered from all over the world.
中でも、特に優れていたのが、日本の竹でした。
Among them, Japanese bamboo was particularly excellent.
今の京都府八幡市に生えていた竹が使われたと、言われています。
It is said that the bamboo growing in what is now Yawata City in Kyoto prefecture, was used.
4 Likes
We move onto chapter 2 later today. We’re planning a new thread for each chapter, so here is the link to the chapter 2 thread.
One of the reasons for a new thread is to make it easier for those who are a little behind the pace to still ask questions. So please continue to post any chapter one questions here and hopefully someone will be able to answer.
3 Likes
My translation of page 26.
その後、八十四才で 亡くなるまでに、エジソンは 千点もの 発明品を 生み出しました。
After that, until his death at 84 years old, Edison had ended up producing thousands of inventions
エジソンの、けっして あきらめない ど力が くれた 明るい 光は、 今も 世界中の 人々を あたたかく てらしています。
To this day the bright light of Edisons effort to never give up warmly illuminates people all over the world
I learned so much from translating this chapter with you guys, lets keep it up!
Cheers!
2 Likes
I’m not sure but could it be that you misinterpreted the しました at the end of the first sentence as a form of しまう (しまいました)?
I think the verb here is just 生み出す (生み出しました). 
2 Likes
you are 100% right as usual, thank you for pointing that out! As always I went a little too fast…
1 Like
Not sure if anyone replied, generally if you hold down the shift key you get katakana.
1 Like
I was waiting to finish Kiki before starting this one, I’m just catching up now!
4 Likes
Highlight text you want to blur. Click settings box in top right of the reply box. Select “blur spoiler”.
2 Likes
It says the grammar sheet is locked for some reason…
Also, I had a quick question, when you’re reading do you stop after each sentence to try and comprehend what you’ve just read or do you finish the entire page first and then try to parse it?
Basically, should you just read through the first time, then re-read with the intent of looking up unknown vocab?
I think everyone does it differently. I tend to read through for a bit as sometimes a second sentence can make the first one easier. No idea about the grammar sheet, sorry - maybe just locked for editing?
1 Like
Ok cool I was just wondering if I was doing this right. 
And the grammar sheet is open again. 
Thanks for the input!